Blessings
Blessings are magical abilities your character is given by their patron god. Every god has their own unique set of Blessings to give their followers: 8 regular Blessings, and 2 Holy Blessings. A character can have up to two Blessings, and power up their blessings by leveling. A character is eligible for their first blessing started at Level 5, and their second blessing at Level 10. A character must appeal to a specific god in order to gain a blessing from them. Once in a rare while, a character may be Born Blessed, and have a random Blessing bestowed on them by their parents' patron deity. Apart from Born Blessings, characters cannot acquire Blessings before their acceptance into the group and cannot have them retconned into their history. All Blessings, no matter how they are acquired, cost 40 CS. List of Blessings Uplift Uplift is a Blessing that only NPCs can have. It is a rare Argus Blessing that allows the user to imbue sentience upon common animals, thereby turning them into Familiars. Acquiring a Blessing at Level 5 (Or a second blessing at Level 10) To receive a blessing, Note the main group with the following information: * Subject: (God Name) Blessing: (Character Name) Name of Character: Link to AP Tracker: Link to Reference: Link to CS Tracker: (Optional) Brief in-character scene of prayer at shrine Your character's god will respond with a choice of two blessings, selected by the god based on your character's personality and history. You may choose between these two blessings, or apply for your choice of blessing when your character is at a higher level. You do not have to accept a Blessing at this time, and do not have to pay 40 CS if you decide not to choose either offered Blessing. Acquiring a Blessing at Level 6+ (Or a second blessing at Level 13+) To choose a blessing, Note the main group with the following information: * Subject: (God Name) Blessing: (Character Name) Name of Character: Link to AP Tracker: Link to Reference: Link to CS Tracker: Blessing: (blessing you are seeking) (Required) 250 word explanation of why the blessing suits your character At Level 6 and above for a first Blessing (and Level 13 and above for a second), a character may choose their own Blessing. Your 250 word explanation must explain why your character chose the Blessing, how the Blessing suits them, and how they would use it. The 250 words may be OOC, an in-character post, or a combination of the two. Your character's deity will respond to give bestow the selected Blessing. Born-Blessed Once in a rare while, a character is born Blessed. To be born Blessed, a character's parent(s) must have prayed at a shrine while the character was in utero. The god, either moved by the parents' prayers or deeming the unborn soul worthy, will grant a random blessing from their set. One in five of your characters may be Born Blessed. To have a character be Born Blessed, note the main group BEFORE the character's application is submitted: * Subject: (God Name) Born Blessed: (Character Name) Name of Character: Link to CS Tracker: Patron God: (specify only one) An admin will roll a random number 1-8 from the chosen deity's set, and present you with the result. You may accept, and purchase the randomly-selected Blessing, or decline the Blessing at no cost. Rolling for Born-Blessed is free, should you choose not to accept the Blessing, but every character may only roll once. You cannot re-roll or change Gods after rolling. You may only have one “pending” roll at a time (meaning a roll you have asked for but haven’t accepted/declined). You can’t send in for multiple rolls at once and leave them hanging until you pick one. This is to avoid people gaming the system. Other Info * Any blessing obtained by the character before they enter the game counts as a born blessing. As such, born blessed may be used to bring in a character who is currently 30 and was blessed in their 20s - its not limited to characters who were literally born with their blessing. This uses up a born blessed slot as usual * Born blessings level the same as regular blessings, meaning they become level 2 once the character’s overall level hits level 7, and then level up again at levels 9 and 11. Having a born blessing does not make the character’s blessing grow any faster/stronger than usual * The character must still be at least level 10 to obtain a second blessing. * The born blessing may not exhibit powers stronger than a typical level 1 blessing in the character’s history * Born blessed slots may be used to bring in a pre-leveled character who already has blessing(s) attached to them. These would be random, like normal born blessed, and if the character comes in with two blessings, two born blessed slots are spent. ** If a character comes in at level 9 for example and is born blessed, you are free to show the blessing growing in power in their history up to a level 3 blessing. Holy Blessings Holy Blessings are rare, exceptionally powerful Blessings that are given sparingly. Recipients of these rare Blessings must be devoted followers of the god giving them, and must have proven themselves worthy of the god's favor. Characters must be Level 10 or higher to apply. Holy Blessings must be your second Blessing. You may apply for a Holy Blessing from a different god than your first Blessing, but must have still substantial evidence of your character worshiping the god that offers the Holy Blessing. These Blessings can only be acquired through a well-written and thorough application, that proves a character's thematic connection to a Holy Blessing, supported by past creative works (e.g. art, roleplay, literature) that support the character's appropriateness for the Holy Blessing. It may be an OOC explanation, in-character prose, or a combination of both. A character's petition should describe how the Holy Blessing is a natural fit for them as an individual, supported by links to art or written works featuring the character. You can view an example of a successful petition by clicking here. * Subject: (God Name) Holy Blessing: (Character Name) Character name: Link to AP Tracker: Link to Reference: Link to CS Tracker: Holy Blessing: (blessing you are seeking) (Required) Petition for blessing Holy Blessing petitions are reviewed by the entire admin team, and put to a vote. Earning one requires a character that is exceptionally developed and extremely well-matched to the Blessing with a thorough and well-supported petition. These Blessings are rare, and no one is guaranteed to acquire one! Special Circumstances As Starborn Alignment has evolved, our members have explored new ways to interact with blessings. Here you can find basic information on some of these special cases you might have heard people talk about! Hijacked Blessings A hijacked blessing is a regular blessing from OOC perspective, and requires the usual form and level, as well as petition (if applying for a specific blessing). The note should be titled with the appropriate god as usual. In character, however, a hijacked blessing is a situation where the character did not pray to the god that the player wants to get a blessing from. We kindly ask that people do not decline blessings given out from a hijacked blessing, as these notes often require more work for the admin. Any God Blessing It’s possible to leave the blessing of your character up to the gods, and petition for several or even any god at all to bless them. These notes should be titled “Any God Blessing: (character name)” or “Alya/Ignacio Blessing: (character name)”. When you send a request that’s either open to more than one god or any god, you will still only get one reply. You will never be offered blessings from multiple different gods at once. If you reject the choices given to you, that character must apply for a specific god’s blessing the next time - the intention is not to have every god vote on what might suit your character. Any God notes may have longer waiting times as other blessings, as they are not for any admin specifically, and admins will reply to them based on whether or not they think their god would be a good fit. The reply you get is not necessarily the admin who first notices the note or is doing blessing replies at the time. Revoked Blessing Revoked blessing is a backstory beat where a character used to have a blessing, but it was taken away by their patron god for gross misuse. Please always check with the god’s admin before using revoked blessings in your backstory - revoking blessings is very rare, and any actions by the god must be okayed by the admin in question. Revoked blessings may be portrayed as leveled up in the backstory. The revoked blessing can not be gained back - it’s gone for good. The first blessing slot of the character will remain permanently empty, and they may only ever get a single blessing in-game (at level 10 and up). Having a revoked blessing in your character's backstory does not use up a born blessed slot. You may also get your blessing revoked in-game; it will function the same, meaning the blessing is lost permanently and may not be regained and no new blessing can take its slot. Discussion with the god’s admin is required. Please always remember that the gods do not revoke blessing lightly, and some of them might not do so at all - they each have their own personalities and values. Simply being a cultist or no longer worshipping the god would not provoke them to withdraw their blessing. Ancient Kirin Blessings Ancient kirins (any kirin not born or transformed during in-game timeline) may only be born blessed by Ignacio - this applies even to having gained a blessing after their resurrection, but before coming into the game. Kirins with dual souls where the other soul/s are not kirins may be born blessed by that soul’s patron instead. A kirin’s born blessing is always the blessing they had in their life before the Smothering (but taken back to level 1). Kirins may be portrayed as having had an Ignacio blessing or blessings during their past life, even high level ones. They may not be portrayed as having had holy blessings. The kirin will not have these blessings upon resurrection unless born blessed, and they will level up as usual - although the kirin will remember them being more powerful, once. If the kirin is not born blessed, they’re not guaranteed to be offered back their old blessing/s when applying for one.__NOEDITSECTION__ Category:Blessings